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Every struggling school to see intervention under new law

Westhaven Elementary principal Rodney Rowen observes the scene in Amber Todd's third grade math class on Jan. 13, 2017, as Tyjuan Horton (center), 8, dances along to a video with his classmates on Friday. Westhaven Elementary is a new school in the iZone. Under the new law, local school districts will have the first opportunity to turn around struggling schools before the state considers a takeover.(Photo: Yalonda M. James/The Commercial Appeal)

Story Highlights

The Every Student Succeeds Act gives local districts the first shot at turning around schools

Under the law, all schools in the bottom 5 percent must have a plan for improvement

Tennessee's plan includes extra funding, on-the-ground support for schools in bottom 5 percent

Her voice and the voices of her fourth-grade students bellow down the hallways of the brand new building, guaranteeing everyone in the Shelby County Innovation Zone school learns about the four stages of metamorphosis.

It's a level of enthusiasm for both teaching and learning that principal Rodney Rowan stressed in two iZone schools he's supervised, and it's why he always steers visitors to McKay's class.

That passion, coupled with an extra hour in the school day, the autonomy to hire his own staff and the district's recent emphasis on early literacy have convinced Rowan he has a recipe for success in turning around struggling schools. The formula worked for him at Cherokee Elementary, where the school was in the top 5 percent for growth in 2015. He's at Westhaven, located in the Whitehaven neighborhood, to replicate that success.

Kennedy Lewis, 10, listens to her fourth grade teacher, Angel McKay, during science class at Westhaven Elementary on Jan. 13, 2017. Westhaven Elementary is a new school in the iZone. Under the new law, local school districts will have the first opportunity to turn around struggling schools before the state considers a takeover.(Photo: Yalonda M. James/The Commercial Appeal)

"Every school has its own unique set of issues and success stories," Rowan said. "And this model allows you to individualize what’s best for the students, the teachers, the parents and the community at large."

Because of the progress he's seen, Rowan is also excited about the district's opportunity to intervene in more schools thanks to the new federal education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act.

As the Tennessee Department of Education continues to refine its plan for implementing the new law, a few aspects regarding school turnaround are certain thanks to federal mandates: every state must identify its lowest-performing schools and strive to improve those schools. As part of that work, local school districts are given first shot at turning around a school struggling for the first time, but they have a maximum of four years to show improvement.

Beyond those requirements, the law leaves nearly all the details for implementation to the state, representing one of the largest transfers of power from the federal government to state and local authorities in decades. U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, the Republican former secretary of education who took the lead on writing the Every Student Succeeds Act, said that transfer of power was the law's main intention.

"I think this unleashes Tennessee to use its creativity to help children and to help communities," he said. "And I’m very encouraged by that.

"If you want real, lasting change in the schools, that’s the way to do it."

Westhaven Elementary principal Rodney Rowen walks the hallway of his school on Jan. 13, 2017. Westhaven Elementary is a new school in the iZone. Under the new law, local school districts will have the first opportunity to turn around struggling schools before the state considers a takeover.(Photo: Yalonda M. James/The Commercial Appeal)

Extra Supports

The biggest change for students in Tennessee's schools most desperate for help is a guarantee of an immediate intervention. With the majority of the state's turnaround efforts in the last five years focused in Shelby County, this will mean a likely shift toward areas of the state like Nashville and Chattanooga that have not implemented large-scale turnaround programs.

Under the existing protocols, Tennessee identifies schools on a Priority List of schools performing in the bottom 5 percent in the state. The state releases the list every three years—a new list comes out this fall—and it's based on three year's worth of data. As resources are available, the local school district applies intervention programs, including the iZones in Davidson, Hamilton and Shelby counties, to as many schools as possible. The state-run ASD takes over additional schools that are in the bottom 5 percent and have not shown growth.

That still leaves some schools with little to no help, sometimes for consecutive years.

Under the new law, every school named to the Priority List will be put onto one of three tracks: schools new to the list, schools on the list previously but reflect growth, and schools that have languished for years with unsuccessful attempts to improve them. Only those in the last group will qualify for state takeover, but all are required to implement a turnaround plan.

To aid in that requirement, the state also intends to give every Priority List school a grant for planning. Districts can also apply for additional grants, paid for through reallocated Title 1 funding. However, all the funding of the state's plan face legislative approval.

The state would also provide on-the-ground support to help individual schools determine the root cause of their struggles and to put a plan in place to implement it.

Brad Leon, SCS chief of strategy and performance management, said the state's help in those areas should be a benefit.

"The fact that people are willing to roll up their sleeves and do work with you I think speaks very well of them," he said.

The three tracks also give districts flexibility about what kind of intervention is best for the school. The iZone, essentially a district within the district, is an expensive model, costing about $600,000 each year. Leon, who oversaw the creation of the SCS iZone but whose role has shifted in the last two weeks, said the district must develop ways to intervene in a school that isn't a full iZone conversion. Those other options could be hybrid partnerships with the state, although the local district would maintain control of the school.

"What I think a parent or a student can take heart in is that from the federal government to the state government to our local school district, making sure we have really strong school options has never been more of a priority," Leon said.

Education Commissioner Candice McQueen said priorities within every turnaround effort will focus on strong leadership, instruction and meeting the needs of all students beyond academics.

"We’re looking at the individual needs of each student, and we’re ensuring from a community perspective that we are wrapping around our students in a way that helps them be successful inside the school," she said.

Codifying the ASD

If local school districts fail to improve struggling schools, the threat of state takeover through the Achievement School District still looms. The new law requires states to have a high-intensity intervention option for schools that don't turn around on their own, and for Tennessee, the existing ASD fits that requirement.

ASD Superintendent Malika Anderson said the state's plan to comply with the new federal law cements many of the district's current practices, such as only taking over schools that did not show significant growth the year before.

"Now it’s codified, or will be codified, in a public plan that takes away the question around, 'why my school?'" Anderson said. "I think that will be helpful to dispel some myths out there, some confusion about the ASD."

Some confusion remains, however, over when a school can leave the ASD and return its students to local school district oversight. The ASD most often outsources its roughly 30 schools to charter organizations that have 10-year contracts to operate schools.

Leon said SCS pushed for schools to return to local districts after five successful years. Language in the draft plan for implementing the new federal law is conflicting, he said, and doesn't provide as much local control as other parts of the new law.

"Obviously districts don’t control their own destiny on that, and I am disappointed that there isn’t greater clarity around that kind of exit criteria," Leon said.

A spokeswoman for the department said the final implementation plan will contain more specific guidelines, but ultimately decisions about individual schools will fall to McQueen.

Language in the draft also stipulates an ASD school need only rise above the bottom 5 percent for those years—a far cry from the district's original promise that schools would move into the top 25 percent in the state.

The law's prioritizing of district-led turnaround means the ASD must take a backseat role if a school is new to the Priority List. That concerns Sarah Carpenter, a grandparent who heads parent advocacy organization Memphis Lift. The group had a strong showing at McQueen's town hall meeting in Memphis regarding how the state will implement the new law.

The four-year period that gives districts the first shot at turning around schools could mean a student starts and finishes middle or high school before the ASD could intervene.

"We just don’t have time to wait," Carpenter said. "We’ve been waiting too long."

Anderson, who talks often of the urgency of the work and the decades of awareness school districts have had about the need for improvement, said she understands providing local leaders first shot at turning around schools.

"It absolutely makes sense to me that districts are provided the opportunity to really focus in on those schools that are newly identified," Anderson said. "Yes, they should have done it before. But now they have to."

About the series

The USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee is taking a month-long look at how Tennessee’s draft plan to put in place the Every Student Succeeds Act will impact students and districts across the state.

Under the federal law, Tennessee will see sweeping changes in the way it tracks and is accountable for students’ education. States across the nation have the ability to draft their own plan and Tennessee’s will be unique to the state.